I find myself printing thousands of pages a year, and going through an inkjet printer every year. I was looking for a new printer at Office Max, and saw a Brother laser on sale for $60 (1/2 price). I'm extremely impressed... I also get 5 times the number of pages for the money. Does anybody else use a laser printer at home?

gunnut

08 Sep 08,, 02:54

It all depends on what you use your printer for. If you print mostly text and black & white, then laser will save time and money in the long run. I have no need for a printer now so I just have 2 cheapy inkjets. If you are into photography and need very sharp colors, then you will want to get an expensive inkjet.

If you go with laser, make sure the toners are easy to come by and cheap. Otherwise you just have an expensive paper weight.

Ironduke

08 Sep 08,, 02:59

It all depends on what you use your printer for. If you print mostly text and black & white, then laser will save time and money in the long run. I have no need for a printer now so I just have 2 cheapy inkjets. If you are into photography and need very sharp colors, then you will want to get an expensive inkjet.

If you go with laser, make sure the toners are easy to come by and cheap. Otherwise you just have an expensive paper weight.
I've seen toner cartridges online that are rated at 2600 pages for $30ish. In store they're $50-60. The black ink cartridge for my Lexmark multifunction was $20 apiece and good for only 200 pages.

Owned 2 laser printers over the last 17 years. The first was an Okidata and the current is a Brother.

Bigfella

08 Sep 08,, 05:31

Duke,

A few years back I acquired a Samsung Laser printer that also doubles as a scanner & photocopier. GREAT purchase. I do a LOT of B&W printing and it has saved me a fortune. No point me doing a direct dollar-for-dollar comparison with US prices, but the cost of ink cartridges is prohibitive for anyone doing a lot of printing, as you no doubt are aware.

I also have a good Canon color printer as I do sometimes need to produce quality color images. As best I can tell this is still a more cost effective option than a colour laser printer. For B&W, however, it is laser all the way.

Gunnut has a point on availability of toner cartridges - choose a fairly popular brand.

Ray

08 Sep 08,, 06:50

I use a HP Laser BW.

It has proved to be more economical as also better in print quality that my previous HP Inkjet.

texasjohn

08 Sep 08,, 13:05

My vote goes to laser. Looks like a good choice there, Ironduke!

tim52

08 Sep 08,, 14:06

It all depends on what you use your printer for. If you print mostly text and black & white, then laser will save time and money in the long run. I have no need for a printer now so I just have 2 cheapy inkjets. If you are into photography and need very sharp colors, then you will want to get an expensive inkjet.

If you go with laser, make sure the toners are easy to come by and cheap. Otherwise you just have an expensive paper weight.

I would have to agree with GN on this. If its mostly B & W printing a laser is the way to go. Inkjets on the other have are cheaper if you do color printing the only downside being that the printheads can dry out if you don't print for an extended period of time.

snapper

08 Sep 08,, 15:48

Just a note to those still using injet - you can now get cartridges refilled in the UK.

neyzen

08 Sep 08,, 17:49

in my home town laser toners refilled for 15 dolars and black inkjek cartridge refilled for 3,5 dolars. so laser is 2,5 times cheaper.

Albany Rifles

08 Sep 08,, 18:15

I use a Dell color laser at home and have had great success

RustyBattleship

08 Sep 08,, 19:15

As most have already said, it depends upon what you are going to use it for.

I do a lot of color copying and inkjet is the way to go. I have a HP 9650 and have printed up to 13" x 19" color photos with great sharpness. Cartridges are a bit expensive and I usually buy them from COSTCO. The only problem I have is sometimes a big window will pop up in the upper left hand corner of my monitor that says a cartridge is getting low on ink. Yet I can still use that cartridge for several WEEKS before losing any quality. Also I'll get a window that says I have no black cartridge installed when I actually do and it is working perfectly.

So I pull the plug on the computer cable (NOT the power cable) for a couple of hours and the windows go away.

Also I have a great HP G4050 Scanner. When my other scanner went out, HP did their best (over the lines) to straighten it out and it wouldn't work. Well, I really wanted a scanner that could take up to 8 X 10 NEGATIVES (not just positive prints) and they offered me one for a good price.

After waiting a week I get a notice that the order was cancelled. I called HP and they apologized all over the place admitting it was their book keeping error. So then they sent me the scanner FREE of charge.

Most of the HP people I talked to were in India. The last lady I talked to I thought was in Oregon at the HP headquarters as she had the proper west coast accent. She said "No, I'm in India. But I did spend 2 years in Oregon in training."

Ray

08 Sep 08,, 19:17

HP is a brand leader in India.

dave lukins

08 Sep 08,, 19:54

HP computer ...Lexmark inkjet Printer..Good results for what I need it for.:)

Ytlas

09 Sep 08,, 03:56

Also I have a great HP G4050 Scanner. When my other scanner went out, HP did their best (over the lines) to straighten it out and it wouldn't work. Well, I really wanted a scanner that could take up to 8 X 10 NEGATIVES (not just positive prints) and they offered me one for a good price.

I have an Epson 4990 that scans up to 8x10 negatives. Of course I shoot a lot of 4x5 and 8x10 and scan to evaluate. If I were to print them digitally, then I would certainly need an inkjet.

Samudra

09 Sep 08,, 07:55

Laser if you only do B&W prints. I used a HP Laserjet for a year, tremendous value for you money. Especially when there was always somebody who replaced my empty toners for free. :)

Doktor

10 Sep 08,, 21:44

As somoene who used to print zil pages/year i'd recommend you a laser. IDK what's the purpose of the printer, but even if you need it to be color i'd still recommend you laser printer - especially since you said it's $60.

I work as a graphic designer and i still don't feel the urge to have some huge inkjet here...

Can't really judge Brother, but i was very happy with HP and Canon. Well i changed HP since they switched from Canon to Samsung technology for their laser engines, and Canon has the most experience when it comes to making lasers.

If you think i can be of any further help to you, you have my e-mail

Ironduke

03 Nov 08,, 01:08

Well, my laser printer finally ran out of toner today... but I found out if you put a piece of tape over the hole on the right side of the cartridge, it'll print out hundreds of more pages. So if any of you've got a laser printer, just tape that hole when it says you're out of toner. :)